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Friday, June 24, 2011

Law & Order UK: Bradley Walsh on DS Ronnie Brooks

Bradley Walsh is back playing DS Ronnie Brooks, a down to earth copper who is married to the force.

Bradley believes he and Jamie Bamber are lucky to have great on-screen chemistry as police partnership Brooks and Devlin.

"I think maybe it works because they’re so different in their original upbringing. I think Matt’s an intelligent lad whose education was good and he’s come from what we deem to be a well-to-do family. They are very pleased he is in the force and has done so well. Whereas Ronnie is an ordinary, mainstream council estate boy who has grown up amongst villains and decided he wants to be part of the upholding of the law. But he still sees a lot of himself in Matt and that is pretty important. You can see the respect Matt has for Ronnie and it is evident that they make a good team," says Bradley.

"Ronnie sees Matt as the son he never had. People forget but Ronnie has a difficult relationship with his family because of his drinking and the bad memories they have of him, so his work colleagues are his family and Matt is his son and they have this wonderful blokey type relationship going on. Some of it is very light hearted, although he appreciates Matt’s more gung-ho approach he thinks he gets too involved. Ronnie believes you've got to look at it subjectively, his view is this is the job, don’t get too involved and that juxtaposition of character really helps.

"Matt has an eye for the girls too, he's always chatting them up making Ronnie think 'here we go again'. I could never imagine them meeting outside of work though. Ronnie doesn’t want to go to the pub or meet women. It would just be awful for any lady to undertake. He's already had two disastrous marriages and at this stage in his life he is honest enough to think 'this is no life for a wife'. Sometimes he gets to work at 7am and wouldn't get home till 4am because of a case. The force is his third marriage and he's happy for things to stay that way."

One storyline in particular had an affect on Bradley's character Ronnie in series five.

He explains: "An episode called Safe in which a little boy goes missing and his mum is in pieces. Ronnie looks on her as if she were one of his own daughters and he wants to help but this is one time he gets far too involved. Ronnie gets sucked in and ends up being used which he doesn’t appreciate. I like that it shows the sort of bloke he is; nice.

"Ronnie is genuinely and generally a very nice man because of his troubled past. He wants to help people and he sees this young girl and blindly walks into all sorts of situations whereas he should really have stood back and dealt with the case from a neutral perspective. That was a sad episode to do."

And how does Ronnie feel about his new counterparts at the CPS?

"Ronnie immediately takes to Jacob; he likes his forthright attitude and knows where he stands with him. Also the first thing Jacob says to him is “West Ham supporter? Bad luck”. Ronnie likes that banter.

"And with the new cast changes we are mirroring the way the series works in the US. Regular cast changes ¬sustain the drama. That is why the show has lasted so long in the States. Law & Order is a great franchise and long may it reign."

Bradley only had one major problem while filming the last series; puddings.

"I've got a terrible weakness for sweet things and our caterers make wonderful puddings. Sometimes I'd just have a tiny salad to start then two helpings of dessert. I love their custard; they even save the skin for me. And their apple crumble…It's just my luck that Ronnie also has a sweet tooth as he is a recovering alcoholic and craves the sugar. I have a huge jar of jelly beans on my desk at the police station but this series I have been really good, I haven't touched one. I'm proud of myself."